The Wolf who Fell in Love with Red Riding Hood
by Hana Noiazei
Summary: The woods near Tino's home are filled with suspicious people — thieves, criminals and rogues galore. When he runs into a scary-looking young boy on the way to his grandmother's, Tino never expected to become friends with him. But, like the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood, they are always destined to be apart.


He peeks into the basket again, counting the pastries inside and tapping at the bottle of tea. Then he folds the cover over it again as his mother walks into the room.

"Are you ready, Tino?"

He nods, bouncing on his heels in excitement. His mother hands him a small pile of soft red cloth, which he takes in surprise. "What's this, Mother?"

"It's a cloak! I stayed up last night making this for you. You can wear this into the woods, so people can see you easily. That way, if you get in trouble we won't have trouble finding you." She pats Tino's head. "I heard a lot of reports on suspicious people in there, so you've got to be careful."

Tino unfolds the clock and fastens it at the chest. "It's got a hood!" He slips the hood over his head. "Thank you, this looks really cool!"

His mother smiles, then ushers him out the door. "Off you go, now. Grandmother's food isn't going to deliver itself."

…

Tino hums a tune as he walks through the woods, a handful of flowers already in his hand. _I can't believe Mother finally let me walk in the woods by myself!_ He thinks. _Everything looks so pretty, just like Mikkel said it'd be! _

He starts straying from his path, wandering to look at flowers, toadstools and the occasional squirrel. Tino crouches down in front of a puddle, watching as a dragonfly skims over the surface and giggling at the ripples. He makes faces in the watery reflection of the puddle, not hearing the leaves crunching behind him.

Tino suddenly sees a tall, dark figure in the puddle's reflection, one that's at least a whole head taller than him. He turn around… and gasps.

There is a boy standing behind him. A very, very tall boy he doesn't know.

His hair is wheat-blond and tousled from the wind. His face is set in a scowl. He is wearing a torn blue tunic under a dark cloak, not unlike Tino's crimson one. And his eyes…

His eyes are the colour of leaves, but very, very scary. Tino trembles when he meets them, shaking under the glare. After what seems like forever, his finally comes to his senses.

He runs.

Tripping over tree roots and slipping on wet leaves, Tino runs as fast as his legs can carry him in what he prays is the right direction. Bushes and trees blur past him and he gasps, the cold wind whipping his hair back.

The trees part in next to no time and reveal Tino's grandmother's village.

He practically melts in relief.

…

"You won't tell my mother about this, right?"

Mikkel laughs, shaking his head. "Of course not! Gosh, that sounded really cool, though. I wish _I _could run into a scary dude in the woods. Then I'd finally have an excuse to use Dad's axe!"

"I don't think you would want to," Tino says. "The boy looked like he was going to kill me! And he was really tall, too. He's probably a giant, or an orc, or something in those fairytales!"

"He looked like he was gonna kill you?" Mikkel slings his arm around the boy on his other side. "Well, those forest folk have something in common! Right, Lukas?"

"Get off me." Lukas pushes Mikkel's arm off and returns to his book. "I just want some peace and quiet before class starts again, idiot."

"Told ya!" He whispers to Tino. "Look, I'm pretty sure that guy wasn't trying to hurt you. See, Lukas keeps saying he's gonna kill me, but I'm still alive!"

"I guess…" Tino takes another bite of his apple. "At least Mother doesn't know, or she wouldn't let me into the woods ever again!"

"You can always go into the woods anyways," Mikkel quips. "Just make sure your folks don't find out!"

…

Exactly a week later, Tino ambles through the forest again, basket in hand and clock fastened. _Don't get distracted, _he reminds himself. _You're eleven years old, and your grandmother is relying on you. You can't run into big scary boys again._

He starts to hum. He swings his basket a little, and smiles.

The smile fades when Tino hears leaves crunching behind him. He turns.

The boy from last week is leaning against a tree, staring at him with those scary green eyes. To Tino's horror, he starts walking towards him.

Holding the basket like a lifeline, Tino takes off again. His legs ache and the cold air hurts his throat, but he runs. His heart thumps wildly, so quickly that he can hear the blood pounding in his ears. _Don't let him catch me, don't let him catch me, please, where's the village!?_

The ground flashes before him.

Tino drops the basket and throws his arms out. He lands on the ground with a _thud_, pain rippling through his body.

"Ow…" Tino rolls over to sit on the ground and pulls his knees up to his chest. _At least my knees hit the ground and not my face._

Footsteps sound, and Tino looks up. His stomach sinks.

It's him.

Tino inches backward, his blood running cold with terror. He follows, steps slow and steady. "P-Please don't hurt me!" He tries to say, fighting back tears. "I won't run into you again, I promise!"

He stops walking, instead crouching down in front of Tino. His eyes, somehow, look slightly less scary. Wordlessly, he points to Tino's scraped knee. Before Tino can speak, the boy tears off a strip of cloth from his dark cloak and tugs at his leg.

"Huh?" Tino stretches his leg to lie flat on the ground. "Do you want me to do this?"

The boy nods. He wraps the strip of cloth around Tino's knee and over the wound, knotting it.

"Oh!" Tino runs his fingers over the makeshift bandage and tugs at the soft cloth. "Oh, um… thank you." _It's better than the bandages that Mother ties, _he thinks. _And my knee doesn't hurt too much any more._

By the time Tino gets to his feet, the boy is already gone.

…

"I should've expected this to happen at some point." Tino's mother unties the blue fabric and rinses his knee with water. "With all the roots in the woods and how manage to trip over nothing. Who bandaged your knee for you?"

"Uh… there was a boy in the woods who saw me fall over," he replies, deciding to be honest. "He was the one who helped me."

"That was very kind of him!" Tino's mother dresses his wound with a clean strip of cloth and steps back. "Did you get his name, Tino?"

"No, he left without saying anything." Tino gets to his feet. "Thank you for cleaning me up, Mother."

Returning to his bedroom, Tino can't help but to keep thinking of the boy: his messy gold hair, his brilliant green eyes, his gentle hands. _If Mikkel was right, and that boy lives in the woods, why would he help me?_

…

This time, Tino goes into the woods himself. He follows the path he's taken for two weeks and soon enough, he sees the silhouette of the boy hunched behind a bush.

Quietly, Tino approaches the shadow and sees the boy, turning a sharp stone in his hands. "Hello?"

The boy looks up, narrow green eyes widening. He stands up without hesitation, and Tino realises that he towers over him. Swallowing nervously, Tino cranes his neck to look the boy in the eyes.

"Hi there!" He says, twisting his shirt-hem nervously. "I-I just wanted to say thank you, for, you know, helping me when I fell over. I would've been in huge trouble if you hadn't patched up my leg, so… thank you!"

The boy's lips curl into what looks like a smile. "Welcome."

Tino jumps a little at that. "You can talk!" He blurts out.

"Hmm? Course I can."

"Yeah, I should've known." Rocking back and forth sheepishly, Tino tries to smile back. "Um… I never got your name, actually."

"Name's Berwald," he says. "Yours?"

"My name's Tino! I live in that village nearby, and I'm eleven years old. Do you want to be my friend?"

Berwald nods, suddenly starting to walk. "I'm eleven, too. Don't live in the village." He looks back to make sure Tino is behind him, then says, "You can come over to my house."

Without hesitation, Tino pads after Berwald. The two of them walk in silence for a while until Berwald clears away a patch of thorns and gestures behind them. "I live here."

In front of the boys is a small lean-to made of wooden planks. Inside there is a piece of fabric covering the muddy ground, and another piece presumably acting as a blanket. On top of all that is a wooden box.

"This is where you live?" Tino asks, taking a tentative step forward. "It's… nice. Do you live with your parents?"

Berwald shakes his head. "They're dead."

Shocked into silence, Tino lets the blond take his hand and lead him to sit down in the lean-to. He numbly watches as Berwald strikes a match and tosses it into a pile of sticks, starting up a fire. Trying to change the subject, he asks, "Have you been living here long?"

"My whole life," Berwald replies. "All I ever knew." He pokes the fire with a twig. "Parents couldn't afford a house. We did lots of stealin'. Died a year ago, so I'm left here."

"How about… how about you come to my village with me?" Tino offers. "You can live with Mother, Father and I. I've got lots of friends, and they can be your friend too!"

He looks at Tino in surprise. "That sounds—"

"Get 'im!"

A shout, then a crash. Berwald leaps to his feet, looking around wildly. Standing in front of the thorn-thicket are a group of men who Tino recognises as some of his neighbours. And in front, next to his father…

"Mikkel!?" Tino shouts, running in front of Berwald. "What's going on?"

The blond boy grabs Tino's wrist and pulls him away from Berwald. "Get away from him, that guy's real dangerous!"

"What?"

"Dad, he's getting away!"

Mikkel drags his friend away from the group of adults as they close in on Berwald. All Tino catches is a flash of blue, then his new friend disappears into the woods.

Mikkel's father returns, scowling. "Damn it, we lost him again!"

"The boy's sneakier than a fox," a neighbour adds. "We've been looking for him for weeks now, and he's always ran away." He kicks at the glowing embers of the now-dying fire. "At least we know where he lives now."

"Why are you doing all this?" Tino exclaims, trying and failing to pull away from Mikkel. "Berwald did nothing wrong."

Mikkel stares at Tino in surprise. "His name's Berwald?" He asks, getting a nod. "You're acting like he's your friend or something!"

"That's because he _is_!"

"Nope. No. No way." He stomps off in the direction of their village. "Come over to my place for a while, Tino. We've got a forest kid to talk to."

…

"Lukas!"

The boy in question looks up from his novel, glaring at the two boys. "What?"

"Tino here wants to talk to you!" Mikkel pushes Tino down on an armchair and plops down on the one next to it. He grins at Lukas, ignoring his icy glare.

"Quiet down," Lukas gestures to his sickly brother's bedroom. "Emil just had his medicine and he's taking a nap."

"Okay," Mikkel lowers his voice to a whisper. "So Tino made friends with a guy in the woods."

"You did, too."

"Yeah, but this time it's different. Dad found you half-dead with Emil in your arms. This guy who Tino likes is stealing stuff from our village."

"Stealing is natural for anyone living in the woods," Lukas says. "I had to steal to keep Emil and I alive. He probably has to steal to survive, too."

"Mikkel said that you only stole food and clothes," Tino pipes up quietly. "All the way here, he kept telling me that Berwald stole jewels and books and expensive stuff."

"Plus, this Berwald person looks terrifying! He has this glare that kinda looks like yours, because it's all 'I'm gonna kill you'! Does everyone in the woods have that look?"

Lukas goes back to reading.

"When we saw him with Tino, we thought he was going to cook him on the fire, then eat him!" Mikkel continues. "I think he's dangerous, or even a little evil!"

No reply from Lukas.

"Lukas, have you seen Berwald before?" Tino fidgets in his seat. "He's really tall, with blond hair and green eyes that aren't as scary as they look. And he wears this blue tunic and a hooded cloak, which looks like mine but it's black instead of red."

"Once or twice, I think." He idly turns a page. "He gave me a book once, and a box of pills for Emil another time. I gave him some food and his cloak in return. But no, I never got his name. We never even talked."

"He's really nice!" Tino smiles at the thought of Berwald. "I fell over while walking in the woods once, and he bandaged my leg for me."

Mikkel shrugs. "I guess he isn't a heartless monster. He's still a thief, though!"

…

The next time Tino comes across Berwald, he's lead to another lean-to. "Built it after they found me," he said, when Tino asked. "Don't want to get caught."

The fire's crackling, cooking what looks like an assortment of plant roots on top. Tino is sitting under the shade of the lean-to, drawing figures in the soil with a stick. "I talked to my friends yesterday," he says. "One of them used to live in the woods. His name's Lukas, and he has a little brother named Emil. He said that he gave you your cloak."

Berwald nods. "I remember him. I stole medicine for his brother, a book for him. He gave me food. He was kind."

"My friend Mikkel, the one with messy hair, said you stole a lot of expensive things," he adds. "Is that true?"

He nods again. "Stole 'em for you."

Tino jolts in surprise. "For me?"

Berwald retrieves the box from under his blanket and hands it to Tino. "For you."

Opening it cautiously, the box reveals folded tapestries, necklaces, and even a few books. The books are vibrant, the pages dyed with expensive inks and painted with bright illustrations. The necklaces, when sold, could feed his family for a month. The tapestries are made of silk and gold thread. It's a literal treasure chest.

"Woah…" Tino snaps the box shut in shock. "You stole these as presents for me?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you, Berwald." Setting down the box, Tino shyly stands up and hugs the taller boy. He stiffens for a moment, before wrapping his arms around Tino. "But why would you get in trouble for me?"

"Want to see you happy." Berwald releases Tino. "And you deserve these. You deserve everything."

Giggling, Tino hugs him again.

…

It's been a good month since Tino has met Berwald, and once again he sneaks out into the woods. Berwald is waiting on the tree he often leans against, smiling a little when he sees Tino.

He limps towards him.

Naturally, Tino approaches him with a grin, but it fades as quickly as it came when he notices Berwald's limp. "What happened?"

"Some villagers." Is his curt reply. "They got me again, I ran just in time. It isn't safe here for me."

"They started chasing you?"

He nods.

"You can't stay here forever!" Tino bursts out. "One day they'll catch you, and you'll be in big trouble! Berwald, can't you come home with me? Lukas did the same with Mikkel, and nobody said anything! Why can't it be the same for us?"

"Lukas is different. He had a brother. He stole only food, not like me." Berwald shifts on his feet, wincing as he does so. "If I go with you, they'll kill me. If they know you're with me, they'll hurt you, too."

"I don't care! I don't want you to ever leave, and I want to stay with you until we die. I think…" he gazes at Berwald, flushing red. "I think I like you, Berwald. I think I really, really, _really _like you."

Berwald gazes back, jade eyes unyielding. "I think I feel the same way. I think I like you too. But, Tino," he drops his gaze. "Still can't stay. It's dangerous for you. You could get hurt 'cause of me."

"I told you, I don't care if I get hurt!" Tino's voice rises into a wail and tears prick at his eyes. "I just want to stay with you. Please, don't go."

"Have to." Berwald pulls Tino close, holding him tightly. "For your sake. For my sake. I'll go to another village. New home, new life. One day, you can come find me. Then, if it's allowed, we'll be together."

_Together_. The word echoes in Tino's head, filling him with a strange warmth. _We'll be together again, one day._ He melts into Berwald's embrace, trying hard not to cry. "You promise to see me again?"

"Of course."

"You promise to never forget me?"

"Of course."

"We'll live together when we grow up, and nothing will ever take you away." Tino lets the tears flow free. "And we'll be together for the rest of our lives."

Finally, painfully, Berwald lets go of Tino. "Take this." He shakes off his cloak and hands it to Tino. "So we remember."

"Take my cloak, too." Tino give the pile of crimson fabric to him. "I'll wear this every day, I promise." He rubs his eyes. "And you have to go now, right?"

Berwald nods.

"Goodbye, Tino." He plants a chaste kiss to Tino's forehead. "Love you."

Tino smiles through his tears. "I love you too."

He turns and walks, every quiet step taking him away.

…

Berwald Oxenstierna, age twenty-one, turns his head at a worker's call. "Yes?"

"Mr. Oxenstierna, our new worker has arrived. Would you like to talk to him?"

He nods and follows his worker, past half-built houses, past piles of wood and stone and hammer-holding workers.

"Mr. Oxenstierna, this is Tino Vainamoinen."

He stares into azure eyes as clear as the skies, a porcelain face framed by golden hair. Berwald's eyes drop to see a smile brighter than the sun, hands clutching at a too-small cloak, dyed black and torn.

His hands fly to his scarf, made of vermillion cloth. It was once a cloak, he remembers, until he refashioned it into a scarf when it got too small for him. And he traded it with somebody, somebody who he gave his old cloak to. Somebody with a bright smile and bright blue eyes.

Vainamoinen seems to have made the same inference, for his eyes have widened and locked onto Berwald's. Hopefully, Berwald reaches out his hand, and Tino takes it.

"You came back!"

* * *

This story was based on The Wolf Who Fell in Love with Red Riding Hood, written and composed by Hitoshizuku-P and Yama. The song was performed by the Kagamine twins.


End file.
